Question on Hammarlund SP-600 VLF receivers

[Dennis Gibbs]

Hello everyone,

I have an opportunity to purchase a Hammarlund SP-600 VLF model in
excellent-mint condition.  The receiver is not local to me, so I cannot
examine it personally before making the purchase.  I would like to
determine when this unit was made.  Specifically, I'd like to find out
if this unit has the infamous black paper capacitors in it.

I spoke with the person selling the receiver on the phone.  There are
no definite date codes that he could find.  There is no plate on the
tuner cover like on the traditional SP-600 models.  He could not see
a date code on the power supply can electrolytic.  He THINKS he sees
a date code on a capacitor, but he can't tell whether it is 9-57, or 9-67.

There is a sticker on the back of the unit with a number 55752052, but
this doesn't sound like an SP-600 serial number.  There is something
written on the side of the chassis that looks like 75-820-I2/5, but it's
very faint.  The coverage of the receiver is 10-540KHz.  He has an
original manual for it, that says it's a VLF-31 model, but we don't know
if the manual matches the receiver.

My questions are:

1) Assuming it's a VLF-31 model, when were the VLF-31s made?  Do they have
the infamous black beauty caps in them?

2) What other VLF versions did Hammarlund make, and when were they made?
Which ones had the black beauty caps in them?

3) Assuming MINT condition cosmetically and electrically, how much should
one of these sell for?

I've seen various lists of the versions of SP-600 receivers, but I still
can't seem to pinpoint when the VLF versions were made.

Thanks for any help,

Dennis Gibbs
dgibbs at rational.com

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